


The Forgetfulness of Death

by NorbyToon



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Drowning, Henry uses its/them/him pronouns, Imprisonment, Loss of Limbs, Memory Loss, Mentioned Joey Drew, Mentions of Disembowlment, Mentions of Impalement, Mentions of Limb Loss, Nonbinary Henry Stein, One Shot, Other, Pansexual Henry Stein, Rebirth, Recovered Memories, Temporary Character Death, Time Loop, also implied - Freeform, implied - Freeform, now suffer, or at least the start of it, welcome to drew studios, yea death does that to you :/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NorbyToon/pseuds/NorbyToon
Summary: As you take your final breath, a blackness surrounds you. Whispering, so very quiet. Its the only thing you know. The light at the end of the tunnel shines bright then, giving such a sense of peace. Of freedom.Until those soft whispers turn into screams.
Relationships: Henry Stein/Linda Stein
Kudos: 4





	The Forgetfulness of Death

**Author's Note:**

> Meant to be a short 20 minute one but due to my inability to focus, my day to day life, and to actually finish something this took 6 days. Stumped me here and there, but this was an easy one. 
> 
> Expect a lot of 'henry suffering and wants to punch joey' from me.

It was always like this at first. Horrible, gruesome pain, whether it only lasted for a second or was a slow, agonizing, leaving a person to suffer for such a long, long time. Coursing through your entire being while you screamed, cried, hacked and wheezed. Crying for help even when you know the only things that will hear you are the ones who didn’t care, the ones who did it to you, or the ones seeking you out. 

The only thing that came right after was cold, whispering darkness. The whispering made your ears tingle, and at first they’re barely intangible. But as the blackness got brighter, their whispers turned louder. The begging, pleading to be set free had turned into what was almost screaming, and with all the voices yelling over each other, it became an unpleasant medley of what felt like were going to make eardrums burst. 

The light at the end of the new tunnel brought a sepia color amongst the ink, drawing it-them? The voices made it so hard to think along with the headache they were causing. It didn’t have a name, did it? What was it? 

No, that didn’t matter. Think about the light. It felt like it had answers.

Walking ~~floating?~~ , they moved a step closer. It didn’t care about how bright it was, how it may be damaging their eyes, or anything close to eyes. It was so entrancing, causing a light feeling to appear in their chest. It felt hopeful in this place, but for some reason they also felt like that it shouldn’t be that way. Like it was wrong to hope. Why would that be wrong? 

It wasn’t until dripping, inky hands emerged from the dark walls that the emotion was kicked out, replaced by one of fear. They looked like they were reaching for something, dreading that it might have been them. Trying to move away from them as far as possible, it found that it was really hard to. It was slow movement, weighed by something it couldn’t comprehend. That wouldn’t stop it though. 

Sloshing through the ink, they tried to fight back against heaviness and hands that got closer. Voices got louder, and they couldn’t help but acknowledge their pleas. 

**_“Please let us out!”_ **

**_“Don’t leave!”_ **

**_“He promised us, he PROMISED US!”_ **

**_“He won’t set us free, won’t he?!”_ **

**_“She’s a m-monster, SHE’S A MONSTER!!”_ **

**_“O-Oh gosh, I remember w-what he did, I REMEMBER WHAT HE DID!”_ **

**_“We should have never trusted him, I shouldn’t have EVER TRUSTED YOU!”_ **

It didn’t understand anything what they were saying, not a single one of it. But deep down, they felt like they should. But why? It didn’t experience the same things as them. It didn’t even have any memories. So why did it feel so _bad?_

The glowing grew, and fingers made contact with skin, ink, whatever it was made of. They grasped around anything they could, tugging and pulling them back. It felt like not only their grips were holding it down, but also their screams. It’s violating, making pain pulse through their head. Something hard was slamming right in the center of them, filling its ears with a panicky rhythm that only further drove the throbbing. 

**_“Don’t leave us here!”_ **

**_“You think you can just leave?!”_ **

**_“You’re him aren’t you?!”_ **

**_“You can’t do this to us!”_ **

It knew nothing about what they were accusing, but it felt like it was directed at...him? Him. That’s what they had called it. It recognized the word, like they have been called that before, but how could that be? Besides that, everything about ‘him’ felt right. 

Why were they upset at them? They didn’t even know who they were. It didn’t know anything about itself either. Just the suffering, screams, the tunnel. But one thing they wanted to know about was that light. 

He pulled his being forward, trying to make the hands let go of them. It took lots of effort, reaching to unlatch fingers entwined on something on it’s body. The thing rubbed against his skin, and even then, it felt tolerable. Digging, he soon found a name that tugged something inside it. 

It was...clothes.

. 

.

. 

_“Hunny, are you almost ready? The rest of us are waiting to see!”_

_He dusted himself off, making sure there were as few wrinkles as possible. Their smile was bright, excitement streaming throughout himself as he looked in the mirror._

_“Yea, I’ll be right out!”_

_Hopping to it, he walked over to the door and stepped outside. A few amazed gasps were made, and compliments started coming through._

_“You look amazing my child!”_

_“What a lovely outfit!”_

_“Charming as always, Stein.”_

_A warm feeling rushed inside them, but it wasn’t until someone in particular caught his vision that a fluttery sensation swarmed in his gut._

_Her hair was brown, short but curly. Her dark skin was smooth, and her smile shone like a million suns. Her dress was pink, a light bubblegum pink, filled with a pattern of red roses. Blue eyes were full of happiness, love._

_“You look very handsome today, dear.” She stated as a small giggle went past her plump lips._

_Blushing, he trotted over to her, hand cupping her cheek as they went in and planted a kiss. It was kind of embarrassing everytime they did that, considering he was shorter than her. Everyone told him to marry a woman that was smaller than them, but he couldn’t help but fall in love with this one._

_Besides, even if they didn’t know then, what were the chances he’d like someone of a lower height when they only talked about ladies? He was 5’3!_

_She planted a kiss back, crouching a little as she did. It seems she found that funny._

_“You also look very beautiful, hunny.” They responded back, reaching to move some of her hair behind her ear._

_“Yuck! Dad, mom, get a room!” A young boy exclaimed, covering his eyes as he did._

_A chorus of laughs ran across the room, along with his own. She went up and tugged at his collar after her own had died down._

_“I think we found a perfect suit for the wedding, Henry.”_

_._

_._

_._

The memory played in their head as it tried to grasp onto it’s discovery. The words those people, including himself, spoke weighing a ton on his already aching chest. 

Henry. Their name was Henry. 

He had a wife. Children. Family. 

What else had it forgotten?

They nearly failed to remember how stuck he was, downed in liquid as the yelling seemed to get louder again, louder than it was when it was thinking. He pulled against them harder. 

**_“You can’t, you can’t!”_ **

**_“Don’t do this!”_ **

**_“Don’t let him get away!”_ **

**_“He’s ours, HE’S OURS!”_ **

Pulling and pulling, stretching and stretching, screaming and _screaming,_ everything was too much to handle. Teeth gritting, he wrenched forward one last time until sounds of bones cracking, limbs tearing was heard, making them cringe. 

Wailing coursed, echoed, and he pushed all of the arms off of them, lifting to cover its ears to attempt to make it stop, to make it _all_ just stop. Cries and pleads still made it through, it hurts, it _hurts!_

**_“H-HOW DARE YOU!!”_ **

**_“WHY?! WHY?!!”_ **

**_"WE ONLY WANT TO BE FREE!”_ **

**_“YOU’RE A MONSTER JOEY, JUST A MONSTER!!”_ **

They couldn’t help but think about what they meant, even if it was confusing. Even if their accusations at him weren't understandable to him. Their begging about wanting to be set free, their mourning. The talk about a monster. 

Joey. That name brought a feeling of loathing in it. 

And perhaps these souls could sense that, or something else could have made the effect, because as soon as that realization came, the place suddenly, and unexpectedly, changed to somewhere of almost utter silence. Leaving the only thing that could be heard was his own heavy breathing, and what he hoped only he could hear, the thudding of what it had come to realize was their own heartbeat. 

They could finally run, arms flailing forward as he reached for the end of the tunnel. It burned into his eyes, almost blinding him and as soon as he stepped into the brightness. It felt like they weren’t in the physical world anymore, like they were floating in nothing but a white void. It felt...nice. Calm. Like nothing bad had ever happened to it. 

Suddenly, something warm and wet rose in the back of his throat, slimy, and it almost seemed that whatever it was was moving through them. Like it had a mind of its own. 

It was a moment he realized they were starting to suffocate. 

It coughed and cough, trying to get it out, but the only result was a watery sound and he accidentally tried to breath in between. Liquid was in his lungs and they started to _burn_ from the lack of oxygen. It was horrible, agonizing, clawing at their chest like that would make a difference to the fire flaring inside of him. 

_H-help! P-ple..ase h-help-!_

A minute just after such desperation, it seemed like they were coming out of something wet. It suddenly felt so, _so_ cold and he coughed and wheezed, black stuff coming out of his mouth as he started gasping, panting. It was a struggle at first, but a clear path was eventually made so all of the oxygen could come through. 

It’s lungs slowly stopped burning as air finally came back to them, the loud huffing and puffing turning a little more steady, normal, but still a little stilted. Tremors still wracked it’s body and he shakingly leaned back against the wall behind them. It wasn’t wet or slimy, just sturdy and hard, though still softened slightly by the amount of times the same goop had been poured over it. Besides, it felt good to relax, even for just a moment to let the fear, uneasiness of what just happened to lower to a more manageable level.

Then, it suddenly remembered. Remembered so many things. 

Memories flashed through his mind, ones of sorrow, resentment, misery, so much _pain._ The loops, the death in which he just experienced and the amount of times they had happened before, Boris, the demon, all of the souls that are trapped here, _Linda-_

Joey Drew. A man full of dreams. A man with a vision. And he ruined _all of it._

The sudden rage felt so heavy, forcing him to rise to their feet, wanting to just be _away._ So much has happened to it, so many gruesome things because of someone it used to call a friend. They had smiled together, looked at the world with so much enthusiasm and satisfaction at what they had accomplished. Now the only thing left was hate. Torment. 

Swaying, and just a little sick, he made an attempt to walk forward. To where, they didn’t know. They didn’t even know if they would survive out there, being the way it was. Maybe something would get to it, slaughter it in some mortifying way. Impale him, cut off a limb or two, maybe tear his insides out. The whispering darkness would come back to it, cold and horrifying as hands reached out to it again, pleading and blaming them for everything that had gone oh so wrong. 

Ice trickled down his back, making him shiver in response. His stomach was clenched, making him queasy. They needed to get out of here. 

Finally making the decision, it trotted forward, down inky hallways and turning through corridors, hoping to find a place to stay and hide. Hide from the creatures that lurked within the place once filled with dreams and happiness, now nothing but a cage full of despair, misery of every single soul that was betrayed by the man with a dream. 

And no remorse. 

**Author's Note:**

> A few statements. 
> 
> Henry didn't use he/him pronouns at the start of the story but in the memory because they're considered more gendered pronouns. Not always, but often. So it would be considered part of their past life, especially when it came out as enby. Explaining how your not a man yet still use he/him is really difficult for those people, along with enbys who use she/her. I went through it once when I used she/her. I don't use those anymore, though. But bun/buns may be a little hard to explain too. 
> 
> How did Henry die at the beginning? The answer is however you want it to be. Drowning, impalement, disembowlment, blood loss, lack of oxygen, starvation, maybe they even just die in his sleep. Anything you want, and its a part of this story. You can't be wrong here. 
> 
> I actually didn't have a design for Linda. I seriously just came up with her design when I was writing this, seconds flat. But I feel like this fits her. Such a beautiful woman of color. No wonder why Henry fell in love with her! I should draw this.
> 
> Again, I don't have a design for Henry. I did once, but I wanted to redesign it and well...I never got around to doing that. And I can't really come off with one off the bat like I did for their wife. Gotta do some thinking, especially since its my comfort character. I want them to be something I can and will enjoy drawing. 
> 
> Yes, he and Linda did have a child before they got married. They had more afterwards, though. 
> 
> The lost ones can sense emotions because the puddles they are trapped in are just. A whirlpool of souls. Makes sense, right?
> 
> They also mistake Henry for being Joey. Why you ask? Literally just listen to sammy and bertrum in the game. Or pay attention to joey's words in dctl. Not gonna explain, its simple. Okay maybe its not so simple, but I don't feel like explaining it. 
> 
> I feel like that's pretty much it. Had fun with this, honestly. Nice short one before I start the longer one I have planned for the future. You also should expect some MHA, especially in the bkdk section. I got one going right now.


End file.
